Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here

Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here
File:Tell them willie boy is here poster.jpg Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Abraham Polonsky
Produced by	Jennings Lang Philip A. Waxman
Written by	Abraham Polonsky Harry Lawton (book)
Starring	Robert Redford Katharine Ross Robert Blake
Music by	Dave Grusin
Cinematography	Conrad L. Hall
Edited by	Melvin Shapiro
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release dates	December 18, 1969 (1969-12-18)
Running time	98 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$2,411,583 (US/ Canada rentals)

Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here is a Technicolor movie released in 1969, based on the true story of a Chemehuevi-Paiute Indian named Willie Boy and his run-in with the law in 1909 in Banning, California, United States.

The movie was written and directed by the once blacklisted Abraham Polonsky. Because of his blacklisting, he had not directed a film since Force of Evil 21 years earlier in 1948.

Plot

The film's story revolves around the Paiute Indian outlaw Willie Boy (Robert Blake), who escapes with his lover, Lola (Katharine Ross), after killing her father in self defense. According to tribal custom Willie can then claim Lola as his wife. According to the law, Deputy Sheriff Cooper (Robert Redford) is required to charge him with murder.

Willie Boy and Lola are hunted for several days by a posse led by Cooper. Willie manages to repel the posse’s advance when he ambushes them from the top of Ruby Mountain. He only tries to shoot their horses, but ends up accidentally killing a bounty hunter, resulting in another murder charge.

Days later, as the posse closes in, Lola dies by a gunshot wound to the chest. It is left deliberately ambiguous whether Lola shot herself in order to slow down the posse's advance or whether Willie killed her to keep her out of the posse's hands. Cooper is inclined to believe the latter and then goes off ahead of the posse to bring in Willie dead or alive.

As soon as Cooper catches up, he comes under fire from Willie, who is positioned at the top of Ruby Mountain. Cooper narrowly avoids being shot on several occasions.

In the film's climax, Cooper maneuvers behind Willie, who has donned a ghost shirt, and tells him he can turn around if he wants to, which he does. The two pause before Willie raises his rifle at Cooper, who beats him to the draw and shoots him. Fatally struck in the chest, Willie tumbles down the hillside. Cooper picks up Willie’s gun and finds that it wasn't even loaded, making it apparent that Willie deliberately chose death over capture. Abashed, Cooper carries the slain outlaw the rest of the way down Ruby Mountain and delivers him to other Paiutes, who carry the corpse away and burn the remains.

When confronted by the county sheriff, Cooper is told that the burning of Willie's body will ruin the people's chance to see Willie in the (now-dead) flesh, denying them the ability "to see something". Cooper retorts: "Tell them we're all out of souvenirs."

History

Source material for the film is Harry W. Lawton's 1960 book, Tell Them Willie Boy is Here.

As depicted in the movie, Willie Boy and Lola (her actual name was Carlota, though she was also called Isoleta and Lolita in various accounts) did run through the Morongo Valley. Carlota was found shot in the back in an area known as The Pipes in northwest Yucca Valley. She was either killed by Willie Boy or shot accidentally by a posse member. Willie Boy did ambush the posse at Ruby Mountain, killing several horses and accidentally wounding a posse member. He ended his 'last stand' by suicide on the flanks of Ruby Mountain west of the current site of Landers, California.

Willie Boy's grave monument can be found at . The monument itself bears the inscription “The West’s Last Famous Manhunt”, alluding to the notion that this was the last effort of its type before the use of a posse was generally replaced by modern, 'fully' staffed and empowered law enforcement agencies.

Pictures of Willie Boy's monument and a map to the monument location can be found here.

A minor item of film history - Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here is one of two Westerns made in 1969 to co-star Robert Redford and Katharine Ross, the other being Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Cast

• Robert Redford as Deputy Sheriff Christopher 'Coop' Cooper
• Katharine Ross as Lola
• Robert Blake as Willie Boy
• Susan Clark as Dr. Elizabeth Arnold
• Barry Sullivan as Ray Calvert
• John Vernon as George Hacker
• Charles Aidman as Judge Benby
• Charles McGraw as Sheriff Frank Wilson
• Shelly Novack as Johnny Finney
• Robert Lipton as Charlie Newcombe
• Lloyd Gough as Dexter
• Ned Romero as Tom
• John Wheeler as Newman
• Erik Holland as Digger (as Eric Holland)
• Garry Walberg as Dr. Mills

See also

• List of American films of 1969

External links

• Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here at IMDb
• Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here at the TCM Movie Database
• Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here at AllMovie

• "Big Rental Films of 1970", Variety, 6 January 1971 p 11